Burn, London, Burn.

I was shocked when I saw the riots start in Tottenham. My bewilderment continued when it spread on to other parts of London. I myself wouldn't have expected something like this in a million years, but did anyone see it coming?

Professor Gus John, a fellow at the London Centre for Leadership and Learning of University of London, wrote to the UK Home Secretary warning of social disharmony back in early July. The authorities had warnings of social uprising but chose not to act on it. You can hear an interview with Professor Gus John here:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2495486/professor-gus-john

The gist of his research points to the high youth unemployment and the cuts in social and education programs  that has left UK youths in a "Hopelessness that has turned into a fearlessness that knows no bounds". He also points to a lack of moral leadership which has seen many British MPs get away with massive tax payer frauds, financial bailouts of banks that has continuously rewarded themselves huge bonuses irrespective of the economic damage they've done.

The author Hari Kunzru sums it up nicely: "That's true of the kids smashing shop windows to steal trainers. It's also true of the MPs fiddling their expenses, the police officers taking backhanders, the journalists breaking into phones. Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't any of us? The example has been set by our new masters, the one per cent for whom and by whom we're governed.
The ability of powerful actors in the financial markets to socialise risk while privatising profit appears, to the financial peasantry, indistinguishable from organised crime. No reason for the rest of us to stand on ceremony."

Think of the cost of riot damage and the cost of incarcerating the young criminals. Is it really going to be less than the cost of social, employment and education programs for youths? I certainly know which path I would like society to take! Social harmony to me is another externality that current economic thinking has excluded in its cost calculation. If we don't pay a price for social harmony just like we don't pay a price for environment protection, the cost will eventually come back and bite us in the bum!

I am afraid that the current conservative government in the UK does not seem to have gotten the message. London will once again burn and hopefully; not at the 2012 Olympic games.